Serum Vitamin D Levels do not Affect Susceptibility to EBV Infection. A Mendelian Randomization Study.

Genetically proxied serum 25OHD levels show no clear effect on EBV seropositivity, with an odds ratio of 1.76 (95% CI 0.83–3.73) per SD increase in RINT 25OHD.

• Why it matters: EBV infection and low vitamin D are strongly linked to multiple sclerosis, but it is unclear whether vitamin D causally affects EBV susceptibility.
• What they did: Two-sample cis-MR used genetic instruments near vitamin D metabolism genes to test EBV serology and detectable EBV DNA in blood and saliva.
• The result: No significant effects were found for detectable EBV DNA in blood (beta 0.02, 95% CI -0.004 to 0.04) or saliva (beta 0.02, 95% CI -0.23 to 0.26), while vitamin D was linked to reduced MS risk (odds ratio 0.67, 95% CI 0.54–0.84).

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